I keep a list of quotes I’ve heard. Some of them I put in my Inspire My Awesome app so they pop up from time to time, and others are just on this list that I revisit. It’s funny to me, though, how at just the right time one of those quotes will present itself because it’s what I need to help me break through a barrier.
The barrier might be a bad mood, the barrier might be self-doubt, or the barrier might be fear, but for some mystical reason the universe knows just what I need. It makes me revisit my thoughts, suddenly things are a little bit clearer, and I can move forward.
Save That Quote
One of the quotes that just resonated with me recently was from Rick Rubin, “Looking back with regret is a young man’s game.”
I can’t remember what podcast he said it on, I think it was from “Broken Record” when he was talking to Brandi Carlile and Tanya Tucker, but at the time I heard it I thought, “That’s a cool quote,” and I saved it. It became tucked away on my list.
Lately I’ve been in that regret trap of looking back at “could’ve beens.” I think it’s because of the change to a new year and reflecting on the past. The two “could’ve beens” at the top of the list were my old website, “Entertainment Ave!”, and “The Entertainment Ave! Podcast” I used to record. I was reflecting back on how much I enjoyed both of them and how, at the time, they were cutting edge as I started Entertainment Ave! back in 1996 and the first podcast was back sometime in 2006.
While I still putz around with Entertainment Ave!, the podcast is long gone. Back in those old days the website was just starting to gain traction as the place for entertainment reviews. The podcast, while it had no traction, was at such an early stage most no one knew what a podcast was so its possibilities were limitless. The regret comes around when I think how “cutting edge” they were at the time, and if I had just put a little bit more effort they might have had the chance to “become something” as one might say.
No Effort
The thing is that I didn’t put in the effort, and I know it. That is what I was regretting and letting get me down. And then Rick Rubin’s quote decided it should show itself again, popping up on my app just in time to reset my attitude.
“Looking back with regret is a young man’s game.”
While I’m not an old man, I’m not a young man either, and thanks to that quote I have been able to change the regret thoughts back to the thoughts they need to be, “That’s the past. You can’t change it. Learn. Move forward. Live.”
If you are young and reading this, go ahead and let a regret super-charge you to your next level. You still have a chance to let the few regrets you might have help you redirect your path. If you are not young and reading this you don’t have time for regrets any longer, you just have time to live.
Don’t let today be another regret. Move forward. Live.
Thanks for stopping by! Keeping being awesome and inspired!